Paleo Gingersnaps

I had promised a friend at our CrossFit affiliate that I would develop a gingersnap recipe for him months ago. I have finally perfected the recipe after lots and lots and lots (my voice trailing off) of trying. I tried fresh ginger and powdered, but found crystallized to be the best. If you can’t find crystallized ginger, use 2 teaspoons of powdered ginger, but you’ll need to add a bit of sweetener, otherwise the snaps will taste straight up spicy. These are even easier to make than our Chocolate Chip Bakies.

Yield: about 20 cookies

Ingredients

Method

Get your oven to 350ºF. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat.

Finely chop the crystallized ginger and add to your mixer. Add the rest of the ingredients and thoroughly mix–about 3 minutes.

Use a small ice cream scoop, spoon or your hands to form about a tablespoon of the dough into a ball. Place it on the baking sheet and with a clean hand, press down on the cookie until it reaches the desired thickness. Why? Because there is no baking powder or baking soda in this recipe, the cookies won’t go anywhere when they’re baked in the oven; that makes it necessary to shape the dough into a round cookie shape before it goes in the oven.

the only thing i can think is that i didn’t specify to make sure you thoroughly mix all the ingredients in the mixer. i must have mixed everything together for about 2 minutes. another thing, maybe we use different almond butters? does this help?

These are fantastic!! I have a family recipe for pumpkin pie that calls for a gingersnap crust; I am absolutely going to try this as the crust instead this year. Though, I’ll probably give it a test run before Thanksgiving just to be safe. Bummer, more pie for us.

I may need to try this with dry or fresh ginger instead of the candied – I’m on keto with a 2.5:1 (total fat:total carb + protein) for seizures and finding things that are vaguely cookie like can be hard.

even if you add 0 g of sugar, almond butter still has carbs in it. i don’t know the specifics b/c mine doesn’t have a nutrition label.
just be careful, hard to stop at one.
good luck on the ketogenesis, i know it can be hard.

from other reader comments, seems the problem stems from the almond butter. it has to be the freshly ground kind from the bulk section at grocery stores and not the jarred kind by the peanut butters, etc.

The crumbling issue for me was solved by not touching the cookies until they are COMPLETELY cool. if they’re still hot, or even warm, they definitely crumble into a million pieces. i used the jarred almond butter, and if you let them cool fully, they’re good to go. But, literally, do not touch them sooner that that.

I made this into a pumpkin pie crust. I made the stated recipe but also added 2 tsp ground ginger and grated a small amount of fresh to give it more of a ginger kick plus approximately 2 tsp almond flour to help make the dough stiffer. I didn’t think to add butter. To make the pie crust, I mixed it like the recipe states then added the almond flour, working it into the dough. Dump into a coconut oil-greased pie pan and work it with your fingers to form the crust. The given recipe makes enough for a 9 inch deep dish pie pan. I didn’t pre-bake. Pour the pumpkin pie filling into the crust and bake until the pie filling is firm, about 1 hour. Put a pie shield or aluminum foil around the edges to keep the crust from burning if the crust sticks up above the filling. The consistency isn’t like a flour pie crust, more like a graham cracker crust but I didn’t have any issues removing slices from the pan.

I made these this weekend, and they taste great (although next time I’ll probably add almost twice as much ginger). Like others, I found they were very crumbly. They stayed intact from the sheet to the cooling rack, to the container, but you have to be sure to eat them over a plate, because they start falling apart almost as soon as you bite them. I used jarred almond butter also, so there’s one more data point for you. Thanks for the recipe!

Don’t get me wrong – they’re delicious, so it’s hard to be too disappointed. You just need to eat them over a plate. I made them small enough that you COULD just eat them in one bite and save the trouble, but then you couldn’t SAVOR. We’re both still enjoying them!

Chopping the crystalized ginger in a blender or a food processor until it sticks and balls up helps make a firm cookie. Doesn’t fall apart and gives a really shiny finish. I recommend doubling the ginger though.

I’m really anxious to try several of your awesome looking recipes, but I’m in a rural area, not a lot of food store options, and I’ve never seen bulk almond butter! Can I make my own almond butter? Do you have a recipe/instructions for that, or do I just zap them in the food processor until they’re creamy? Thanks for your great ideas!

I feel there is something missing in the ingredients. I’m reading some of the comments and some mention almond flour. I don’t see this in the ingredients list. Is there almond flour and if so how much. Can’t wait to make these.